Categories
Antivaccine nonsense Cancer Medicine Quackery

ProtocolKills.com revisited: Misinformed refusal turned up to 11

Back in the day, I used to refer to something I dubbed “misinformed refusal,” a term that refers to how antivaxxers had weaponized “informed consent” by inverting it to frighten parents against vaccinating. In the age of the pandemic, ProtocolKills.com generalizes misinformed refusal to all COVID-19 treatments.

Categories
Antivaccine nonsense Medicine Quackery

Antivax quacks: It’s always (also) about the grifter and grift

When it comes to the behavior of antivax quacks, I like to say: Come for the quackery and ideology, stay for the grift. A Washington Post story this week confirms this characterization.

Categories
Antivaccine nonsense Computers and social media Medicine Pseudoscience Quackery

A quack is launching his own AI chatbot in 2024

Crank, quack, and antivaxxer Mike Adams is unhappy with current AI systems. So he’s developing his own “natural health” large language model-based AI chatbot for 2024. Hilarity will ensue, for sure, but is he at the vanguard of a dangerous trend?

Categories
Antivaccine nonsense Computers and social media Medicine Pseudoscience Quackery

Substack: The new wretched hive of scum and quackery

With social media companies like Twitter and Facebook/Meta deplatforming those spreading misinformation, COVID-19 quacks, antivaxxers, and conspiracy theorists are flocking to Substack, where they can monetize their misinformation.

Categories
Antivaccine nonsense Medicine Politics Skepticism/critical thinking

Antivaccine organizations got $850,000 in COVID-19 bailout money from the Paycheck Protection Program

The Washington Post reported yesterday that antivaccine groups got $850,000 from the Paycheck Protection Program under the CARES Act. How could this happen?